Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav threatened on Tuesday to float a separate party after the Uttar Pradesh elections, indicating that a prolonged feud in the state’s ruling family was far from over.

Senior SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav file his nomination papers from Jaswantnagar seat for the UP assembly election in Etawah on Tuesday. (PTI)

Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav threatened on Tuesday to float a separate party after the Uttar Pradesh elections, indicating that a prolonged feud in the state’s ruling family was far from over.

Shivpal said his party would accommodate leaders and workers sacked by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, with whom he has been locked in a bruising battle for party control.

“How this party was built, how we formed the government, ask me,” an emotional Shivpal said in Etawah. “I will form my own party after March 11.”

Shivpal’s announcement came on a day he filed his nomination as SP candidate from the Jaswantnagar seat, which has been with the Yadav family for the last 50 years.

“Those who today publicly credit their political rise to Netaji have humiliated him. I am with Netaji, I will remain with him till my last breath,” Shivpal told workers.

UP goes to the polls in seven phases beginning February 11 and the SP – in alliance with the Congress -- is facing a tough battle from the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

He made it clear he would not campaign particularly for the Congress and those leaders who moved to other parties. But he would campaign for his supporters in the fray after February 19, apparently to swell his tally within the party before he breaks away.

Shivpal said his stature has been cut down heavily by the new party leadership, which denied tickets to his aides. He said he didn’t want to contest the election but the workers forced him to change him his mind. “I would have loved to contest as an independent, many of supporters were advising him to go as independent,” he said.

He was addressing the meeting before filing the nomination at the collectorate. His supporters from eastern Uttar Pradesh, mainly from the mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s camp, were at the field to hear him.

“I will certainly decide about the future after the elections; right now I am busy with my election, I am not a star campaigner and I am with Netaji,” Shivpal said.

He came down heavily on Akhilesh Yadav government and targeted the ministers. “They’re busy in getting their photos clicked than working for the masses,” he said, calling on the people to forgive him for his follies. “I will correct my mistakes, just send me a letter pointing out my mistakes.”